Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will return from his new duties as the U.S. ambassador to China to bid farewell to the class of 2010.
U President Michael Young announced Tuesday at the U Board of Trustees meeting that Huntsman will deliver the address at the 2010 commencement ceremony May 7.
Last May, President Barack Obama appointed Huntsman to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, a position he gladly accepted after his resignation as Utah’s governor Aug. 11.
During Huntsman’s tenure, the Pew Center named Utah the Best Managed State in America.
“I look forward to returning home to renew old acquaintances and getting to know this newest class of Utah’s finest,” Huntsman said in a statement. During the past few years, Huntsman said he watched with pride as Young steered his campus toward becoming the research-focused institution it is today.
Young asked Huntsman if he would come back for the address shortly after Obama appointed him in May. They finalized the deal with his schedule in December, said Laura Snow, Young’s assistant.
The commencement ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Huntsman Center, named after Huntsman’s father.
